Henry Catchpole - Carfection review

[Scruff111S]

Funny, I think the suspension choice is pretty clear and Lotus has been consistent: if you primarily want the car for road use, get the touring; if you plan to spend lots of time at the track, get the sport.

I wonder how the Sports and Touring Emira suspension compares to the standard suspension set up of the Elise, Exige, Evora or even a Caterham. As many of us have experienced at least one of these, it would give us a better idea of what they are like.

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

Am I the only one that's sick and tired of seeing these reviews now,I just want some concrete news on when the bloody car is coming,not another potential date thrown out there.

 

[Kentviking]

Here we go... this is not a drill!

Nice...but have we now dropped to 390 HP?...sorry maybe I missed earlier threads on this with recent work overload, or is it just another case of journo inaccuracy. Otherwise a generally feel good review. And I like that we get to see the effectiveness of the lights.

 

[Leonard]

Am I the only one that's sick and tired of seeing these reviews now,I just want some concrete news on when the bloody car is coming,not another potential date thrown out there.

I just want the test drive now so I can make a firm decision one way or the other. I'm kind of over the delays now. Not exactly keen on picking up my car Autumn/Winter, so later the better.
Good news with the delays is that I do get a test drive. Could save a lot of expensive disappointment

 

[Leonard]

Nice...but have we now dropped to 390 HP?...sorry maybe I missed earlier threads on this with recent work overload, or is it just another case of journo inaccuracy. Otherwise a generally feel good review. And I like that we get to see the effectiveness of the lights.

394bhp is what you are getting now

 

[roundincircles]

He doesn't shy away from his views.....the front-end turn-in seemed to confuse him on tighter corners ( said the geometry with Cup 2's on Sport suspension would help, maybe), thought the V6 was OK, just. The gearbox is 'engaging' and not the best....

 

[First Lotus]

Did I hear a "so frustrating" in that review?
I'm still building a picture up of the Emira based on what reviewers aren't really saying... The only real positive I got from that video was it had great headlights.
Seems much more the GT (not GT4) car than an out and out Sports car, which isnt really what I want.
I will continue to wait for that test drive before deciding and hope it speaks to me in some more raw and base way though.
Will try an Exige as well, but feel that will be too far the other way, which then only leaves one middle path leading to Munich...

No.... Dont do it....
You'll find yourself driving along one day and an emira will pass you the other way (unlikely to pass you in same direction), and think to yourself... Damn I should've got that car!
Whereas if you are in the emira and a porsche passes you, you will think... What version was that, I just can't tell the difference ?!!!!

 

[Leonard]

No.... Dont do it....
You'll find yourself driving along one day and an emira will pass you the other way (unlikely to pass you in same direction), and think to yourself... Damn I should've got that car!
Whereas if you are in the emira and a porsche passes you, you will think... What version was that, I just can't tell the difference ?!!!!

I only want the Spyder and its pretty hard to miss 🕷

 

[Lotustoronto]

If you watch Henry's video on the 718 Spyder, driving through Scotland as well...you can surely see the difference in his tone. I still think the Emira is better than a GTS 4.0. Not a Spyder tho.

 

[Mickle]

394bhp is what you are getting now

I think they've incorrectly presumed it was 400hp which converts to 394bhp. It should be 400bhp.

 

[Hedge]

Did I hear a "so frustrating" in that review?
I'm still building a picture up of the Emira based on what reviewers aren't really saying... The only real positive I got from that video was it had great headlights.
Seems much more the GT (not GT4) car than an out and out Sports car, which isnt really what I want.
I will continue to wait for that test drive before deciding and hope it speaks to me in some more raw and base way though.
Will try an Exige as well, but feel that will be too far the other way, which then only leaves one middle path leading to Munich...

Evora Sport is a cracker, apparently. Or a Evora GT430.

 

[digilotus]

Didn’t Henry tour in the Shadow Grey car? Now we have a review of a Hethel Yellow? What am I missing?

 

[Hedge]

He doesn't shy away from his views.....the front-end turn-in seemed to confuse him on tighter corners ( said the geometry with Cup 2's on Sport suspension would help, maybe), thought the V6 was OK, just. The gearbox is 'engaging' and not the best....

Pretty much what many others have said re the turn-in and steering. How much that will matter in the real world for most of us? Who knows. But this was where Lotus’ special sauce goes (along with damping). If that’s missing, then not a great deal that’s special enough.

For me a lot of goodwill towards Lotus was making up for the engine (it’s a good noise in my opinion and free enough revving past 3.5k rpm - but then slams into Rev limiter extremely quickly). But does a job.

Gear shift, I thought was a strong point (as long as not tracking it), with the mechanical feel.

Still an absolute beauty of a car to look at though.

 

[Leonard]

Evora Sport is a cracker, apparently. Or a Evora GT430.

Almost bought a Sport but got beaten to it.... 430 seem like rocking horse poo and imagine they are tapping on 991 GT3 money Be nice tho...

 

[Hedge]

Didn’t Henry tour in the Shadow Grey car? Now we have a review of a Hethel Yellow? What am I missing?

Yep - that was used in the EVO review. So, did Lotus give him another car to have a crack at it and still come up with the same answer?

 

[Hedge]

Almost bought a Sport but got beaten to it.... 430 seem like rocking horse poo and imagine they are tapping on 991 GT3 money Be nice tho...

Check your messages

 

[Lotustoronto]

Yep - that was used in the EVO review. So, did Lotus give him another car to have a crack at it and still come up with the same answer?

Looks like they did. I think he was hoping to get a finished production car. He seems disappointed, this is his 3rd carfection review for the Emira, 4th car including the EVO mag drive. 4 drives in 12 months and still can't comment on the interior and fit / finish. I think he is probably a little frustrated with Lotus.

 

[Lotustoronto]

Lotus should have only offered the sports setup with the optimal cup tires. Touring setup with good years. This sport set up with goodyears doesn't seem to make sense. It causing confusion and trying to hybrid driving dynamics. Keep touring as the GTS type, Sport setup as the GT4 type. Based on all the reviews that is what I have come up with.

 

[Eagle7]

I think the issue, especially for these reviewers who've been used to driving much more powerful (and expensive) cars, is the Emira looks like it should perform like those types of cars, but it doesn't. It isn't a thundering exciting car to drive. It isn't raw and wild; it's a refinement car. Henry picked up on that with the steering; it rewards finesse, not muscle. I also think it fitting that he talks about Jim Clark, who I have no doubt would have been really impressed with the Emira. It's his kind of car, and rewards his style of driving.

How thrilled you are with it is going to depend a lot on what you're used to. Remember that its target design price point was £59,995. The FE is that car with all the options included, but it's still a £59,995 at heart. It looks like cars that are 3 times as expensive, but that's a bonus; it doesn't have the drivetrain of cars at that price. Set your expectations accordingly.

The issue with the steering turn-in is odd. Chris Harris didn't mention anything of the sort, but he was driving a tour chassis with Goodyears. There seems to be something going on with the Goodyears on the sport chassis. Gavan must have had Goodyear tune them just for the tour chassis, and Michelin for the sport, and that's where they perform best. Toe-in and camber can be adjusted once you get your car, but I suspect this car is going to be one of those that really makes you feel the difference in tires.

For a car designed for a base price of £59,995, I don't expect perfection in every way. As long as the basics are there, it will be like any other car; you can mod it afterwards to get it where you want it to be. One thing you won't need to mod are the looks; as Henry pointed out, it looks fantastic no matter where it is.

 

[Lotustoronto]

I think the issue, especially for these reviewers who've been used to driving much more powerful (and expensive) cars, is the Emira looks like it should perform like those types of cars, but it doesn't. It isn't a thundering exciting car to drive. It isn't raw and wild; it's a refinement car. Henry picked up on that with the steering; it rewards finesse, not muscle. I also think it fitting that he talks about Jim Clark, who I have no doubt would have been really impressed with the Emira. It's his kind of car, and rewards his style of driving.

How thrilled you are with it is going to depend a lot on what you're used to. Remember that its target design price point was £59,995. The FE is that car with all the options included, but it's still a £59,995 at heart. It looks like cars that are 3 times as expensive, but that's a bonus; it doesn't have the drivetrain of cars at that price. Set your expectations accordingly.

The issue with the steering turn-in is odd. Chris Harris didn't mention anything of the sort, but he was driving a tour chassis with Goodyears. There seems to be something going on with the Goodyears on the sport chassis. Gavan must have had Goodyear tune them just for the tour chassis, and Michelin for the sport, and that's where they perform best. Toe-in and camber can be adjusted once you get your car, but I suspect this car is going to be one of those that really makes you feel the difference in tires.

For a car designed for a base price of £59,995, I don't expect perfection in every way. As long as the basics are there, it will be like any other car; you can mod it afterwards to get it where you want it to be. One thing you won't need to mod are the looks; as Henry pointed out, it looks fantastic no matter where it is.

Agree with all that, almost. It does look like a car that should go a lot quicker... which is not bad at all. I still believe that it is plenty quick. The reviewers drive all sort of cars. I don't buy that they can't be objective between segments.

All the reviews to be honest have compared the Emira to the cars in it's class. (alpine, GTS 4.0 maybe even a C8 corvette) The difference is all those competitors have released new powertrains/updated in the new model. Lotus has re-used an older one with less HP than a 2017 Evora. Albeit to give us a manual ( which I am not complaining about), and there is reliability to the old V6. The AMG i4 will probably be the best driving/quickest Emira around track. I think the reviewers close to Lotus (Harris, Henry, EVO, top gear) have all hinted this to us more than once. The V6 is for us old guys that want to change gears ourselves and feel connected. The numbers car will most likely be the i4 and it's future iterations. Like Harris said, I can see it going to 500 HP in the future... that is a significant difference.

I'm still getting a V6 manual..... Well just because it's damn cool.